FAQ
Who?
We're a group of mostly UMN undergrads, but membership isn't restricted!
Come to chat if you've finished the book or if you haven't!
What?
A semi-traditional book discussion group that meets monthly.
We choose a piece of contemporary fiction to read for each month (attempting to vary genres and keeping diversity of authorship in mind), then discuss it for an hour or so on Saturdays. We also plan field trips and social outings to things like bookstores and movie theaters so members have the time and space to form meaningful friendships! Stay tuned to our email list or our Google calendar to hear about meetings and outings!
When?
First Saturdays of the month, 11am-12pm
We choose this time specifically so people can get brunch together before or lunch together after, and we'll also have member-provided snacks at our meetings! Come for the books and stay for the friends!
Where?
Coffman 326
With exceptions! Get on the email list or subscribe to our Google calendar to stay up-to-date about that!
What types of books does the club read?
You decide!
We have a monthly theme and members submit suggestions and then vote online for their favorites. Generally, we focus on contemporary fiction with diverse authorship and try to vary in genres. If we can, we also try to pick See our previously read books to get a sense of our track record.
How does voting work?
We have a monthly schedule of Google Forms switching out. Participate here.
In general, our voting will usually proceed as follows:
- First Saturday of the month: discussion of the previous month's book
- Second Saturday of the month: suggestions close and voting begins for next month's book
- Third Saturday of the month: voting ends and book selection is announced
This rotation should allow us to know the book to read for a given month one week before the month starts, so that we can use that time to scrounge up our individual copies. This also falls out so that there are about three weeks of suggestions (and a meeting will fall in that time, so that we can all be reminded to suggest books). Then there will be one week of voting before the announcement (and we'll be reminded that this is happening by email).
Thing's'll get funky over school breaks, though, I promise you.
Do we have to come to every meeting to be a member?
No!
Come when the books are interesting to you or when you have time! We'd love to see you as many times as you can make it!
Does the club provide the books?
Unfortunately not.
At the moment, we aren't funded in any particular way by the University or by outside sponsors, so we encourage some deal-scouting and ebook-usage. We providing links for place to buy or rent the books online, and we'll try to keep price in mind.
How should I stay in touch to hear about the Book Club happenings?
Besides checking back here...
Sign up for our email list to get general announcements, sign up our Remind service to get reminders about voting and meeting times, and subscribe to our Google Calendar for quick references for these things. You can also check out our Instagram (we follow back!) & our Facebook, but those are just fun and not guaranteed for accuracy!